{"title":"Conor Heffernan","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"history-of-physical-culture-book-conor-heffernan-9781957792224","title":"The History of Physical Culture","description":"\u003cp\u003ePhysical culture can be crudely defined as those exercise practices designed to physically change the body. In modern parlance we may associate physical culture with weightlifting, physical education, and\/or calisthenics of various kinds. While the modern age has experienced an explosion of interest in gym-based activities, the practice of training one's body has a much longer, and fascinating, history. This book provides an engaged and accessible historical overview from the Ancient World to the Modern Day. In it, readers are introduced to the training practices of Ancient Greece, India, and China among other areas. From there, the book explores the evolution of exercise systems and messages in the Western World with reference to three distinct epochs: the Middles Ages and Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and its aftermath and the nineteenth to the present day. Throughout the book, attention is drawn not only to how societies exercised, but why they did so. The purpose of this book is to provide those new to the field of physical culture an historical overview of some of the major trends and developments in exercise practices. More than that, the book challenges readers to reflect on the numerous meanings attached to the body and its training. As is discussed, physical culture was linked to military, religious, educational, aesthetic, and gendered messages. The training of the body, across millennia, was always about much more than muscularity or strength. Here both the exercise systems, and their meanings are studied.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51058740723985,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51058742919441,"sku":"NIN9781957792224","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52685657407761,"sku":"NLS9781957792224","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1957792221.jpg?v=1750771735"},{"product_id":"indian-club-swinging-and-the-birth-of-global-fitness-book-conor-heffernan-9781350401662","title":"Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness","description":"\u003cp\u003eEmerging in colonial India, the fitness fad that was Indian Club Swinging became a global exercise practice in the early 19th century. Used by physicians, soldiers, gymnasts, children and athletes alike, clubs were used to solve numerous social concerns and ills, and often prescribed to treat everything from depression to spinal abnormalities. This book provides a definitive account of the rise and spread of club swinging as it spread from India to Europe and America, asking why and how it became so popular.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDiscussing the global, commercial fitness culture of the 19th century, \u003ci\u003eIndian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness\u003c\/i\u003e explores how the popularity of this exercise reflected much deeper global and domestic concerns about body image, military preparation and education. Addressing broader questions about nationalism, gender, race and popular commerce across the British Empire, it highlights the origins of our modern transnational fitness culture and shows how it intersected with global and colonial understandings of health, medicine and education.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51630354563345,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51630356234513,"sku":"NGR9781350401662","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51699432358161,"sku":"NIN9781350401662","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52634054361361,"sku":"NLS9781350401662","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1350401668.jpg?v=1751050616"},{"product_id":"zombies-in-contemporary-culture-book-conor-heffernan-9781837723034","title":"Zombies in Contemporary Culture","description":"Building on previous zombie studies scholarship, this ghoulish collection examines how the undead reflect and contribute to contemporary social anxieties, particularly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The contributors to this volume advance the theoretical framework of ‘zombiism’ through four interconnected themes – journeys, bodies, pandemics and politics – and their writings analyse diverse media representations of zombies across literature, film, television and material culture, offering new perspectives on how zombie narratives engage issues of travel restrictions, political breakdowns, racial tensions and sexual taboos. By bringing together scholars from various fields, the volume demonstrates the continuing relevance of zombies as a lens for understanding contemporary societal challenges, from public health crises to rising far-right politics and ongoing culture wars; its interdisciplinary approach not only enriches zombie studies but also reveals how the figure of the zombie remains a vital tool for analysing pressing issues in the humanities and beyond.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51632123969809,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51632124264721,"sku":"NGR9781837723034","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52613354946833,"sku":"NLS9781837723034","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1837723036.jpg?v=1766139249"},{"product_id":"when-fitness-went-global-book-conor-heffernan-9781350500785","title":"When Fitness Went Global","description":"Fitness, exercise and physical culture is a key part of our modern lives, but has this always been the case? In this book, Conor Heffernan shows how the 19th century was critical for the development of the modern fitness industry, and how the globalization of physical culture was entangled in, and spread by, concepts of nationalism, gender, race, empire and medicine.  From yoga and gymnastics to Indian club swinging and Jiujitsu, When Fitness Went Global follows some of the most popular fitness practices from around the world as they were exported on a global scale during the long 19th century. Showing how this came about through imperial networks, military education, new print culture, faster trade networks and changing ideas about the body, it shows how beautiful bodies were linked to notions of national strength and imperial might. Exploring how both local and international understandings of exercise were negotiated, it asks why some practices became global while others did not, and shows how fitness was revolutionised during the 19th century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51769994805521,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51769994838289,"sku":"NGR9781350500785","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52702269374737,"sku":"NLS9781350500785","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781350500785.jpg?v=1751501090"},{"product_id":"when-fitness-went-global-book-conor-heffernan-9781350500778","title":"When Fitness Went Global","description":"Fitness, exercise and physical culture is a key part of our modern lives, but has this always been the case? 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Tracing four decades of Irish history, the work also examines the influence of foreign fitness entrepreneurs in Ireland and contrasts them with their Irish counterparts.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52139055218961,"sku":"NLS9783030637293","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9783030637293.jpg?v=1757566726"},{"product_id":"indian-club-swinging-and-the-birth-of-global-fitness-book-conor-heffernan-9781350401624","title":"Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness","description":"Emerging in colonial India, the fitness fad that was Indian Club Swinging became a global exercise practice in the early 19th century. Used by physicians, soldiers, gymnasts, children and athletes alike, clubs were used to solve numerous social concerns and ills, and often prescribed to treat everything from depression to spinal abnormalities. 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